Stop Safely Now Warning

[robochimp]

Great find, Unplugged!

I wonder if the EV engineers were reading our posts? :] Sadly, we are doing their job for them.

Thread>
"First 12Volt Battery Dies, Then SSN - a correlation?":

http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1269
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:30 pm

 

[unplugged]

Great find, Unplugged!

I have to give credit to sippycups for that one. (Though I think the TSB deserves more publicity because it claims to solve the 12V battery drain issue on the SSN.)

 

[psisodia]

My name is Pratibha and I would like to register another complain
regarding my Ford with above Vehicle Identification Number.

Few months back I complained that my Ford Focus being stopped in
middle of freeway abruptly which caused whole traffic slow down. Ford
requested me to take it to dealer "Frontier Ford in San jose CA" where
I leased it from, and they made some software upgrades and told me it
should not happen again. But now again after 3 month, the same thing
started happening.

I was being pulled over by Police office today due to vehicle being
stopped in middle of traffic and unable to move for some short period
of time. He gave us warning not to drive this vehicle anymore as its
traffic safety issue.

Having said that, I would like to request replacement of vehicle as I
am unable to drive it anymore due to warning from police officer and
traffic safety hazards it causes to me, my family and the whole
traffic.

Please let me know the process I need to follow to get things resolved
smoothly between Ford and us.

Thanks and appreciate all your help in the past and future.

I sent this mail to Ford directly, I received response letter from Ford saying, "Your vehicle does not qualify for replacement or buy back under california lime law"

 

[dmspen]

A policeman cannot tell you to NOT drive your car. ANY car on the road can fail and stop in the middle of traffic. Stalls happen every single day in traffic. He was out of place telling you that. The California LEMON law is very specific. You should Google what the specifics are. Basically you're car has to be repaired for an identical problem 3 times in 90 days...or something like that. I would recommend driving in the far left lane as much as possible and when possible. Much safer that way.

The problem with this Stop Safely Now is that it clears up...until it happens again. It is currently being investigated by the National Transportation Agency.

 

[Jasper7821]

My car has gotten the SSN 3 times in the last week after a new 12v battery was installed.
The ford dealer send in the Truck I want as a replacement to Mimics and should be expecting the worksheet any day so o'm crossing my fingers that Ford corporate is correct by telling me to go pick any Ford/Lincoln vehicle and it will basically be a straight across trade and all my lease terms remain the same.
The Ford dealer said that's not going to happen so we'll see.

 

[Dave]

Police are like car dealers, they can tell you WHATEVER they want to.

That DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT or CORRECT!

Don't trust ANY of them!

I know it's off topic, sorry! ;-)

 

[WattsUp]

A policeman cannot tell you to NOT drive your car. ANY car on the road can fail and stop in the middle of traffic.

To be fair, perhaps the cop only "strongly suggested" that car not be driven (since obviously it has a stalling issue). He would probably give the same suggestion to someone with a gas car that wasn't running reliably.

Giving the benefit of the doubt, most policemen are honest and truly concerned for public safety. They deal with a lot of people who don't do the smartest things on the road (like continue to drive a malfunctioning car).

 

[Dave]

I happened to be near my local dealer today and asked them if they had any update.
The service advisor took my VIN and looked on the computer and said there was a note that something was coming. I saw him pointing to something yellow on the screen but I didn't see it and there wasn't much more info about what it was or what it was for.

I will check back or keep an eye on the website and mail for any recall info.

 

[Dave]

I just got my second SSN error! This time I had newer software, I had a 240V charger, and it was cool outside. I was braking and turning into a parking lot right when it happened.

The last time it happened, I was thinking maybe it was heat related or related to the 110 charger but I think I can safely say that's not true.

Grrrrr

 

[sjh7707]

I just visited the ford dealership and was looking at buying the ford focus ev 2014 ingot silver model. I test drove the car and it seems very nice. Much better then the Nissan Leaf which I also test drove yesterday. The lease terms are even more favorable then the Nissan Leaf and I was liking the car.
The test drive went OK and we talked. I wanted my wife to see the car so they agreed to let me take it home for the night. They charged the car up a bit and I drove the car home. The 30 mile drive was a nice smooth ride and very little road noise. After parking it in front of our house, I locked it with the remote. I went inside and got my wife and 2 kids to come out and get in the car. We all got in and I pressed the button to start the car. All the dash lights came on and everything seemed normal. My son asked, "Is it on?" I said, "Yes, let go". So I then took my foot off the brake and went to press the accelerator. Can you guess what happened? Nothing except "STOP SAFELY NOW" appeared on the dash while we then proceeded to slowly coast down the hill in front of my house. My wife asked, "Whats wrong" as we sat at the bottom of the hill. I tried to go in reverse and forward. Everything else seemed to be working. The backup camera when in reverse, the head lights, the radio, and all the dash lights. I could hear a loud humming sound from the car whenever I put it into forward or reverse. This humming wasn't something I remember hearing before when I test drove the care or when I drove it home.
I pressed the start/stop button to turn the car off but it didn't seem to want to shut off because the lights on the dash stayed on. I pressed it again and it then appeared to shut off. After turning it back on it behaved the same way. I tried shutting it off once more and then back on. The car then sounded different, yes it sounded quieter. When I put it in gear it then worked and went forward when I pressed the accelerator. I did not open any door or press any of the buttons on the remote during the two restarts. At this moment the car has only 70 miles on it.
I really wanted to convince my wife to get this car. However, I just googled Stop Safely Now Ford Focus EV and guess what I found? Now what?

 

[WattsUp]

However, I just googled Stop Safely Now Ford Focus EV and guess what I found? Now what?

I would recommend that, if you still decide to go for an FFE, don't buy THAT one!

Some people seem to have lots of SSN problems. Most don't, but I still count myself lucky. I have a 2013 FFE with nearly 12K miles and no SSN.

 

[nallgaier]

Just had my second SSN yesterday at ~2400 miles. Just driving down the road going about 40mph... no thunk, no breaking, no turning, no nuthin, just cut out. Coasted to the side, did the open/close door thing a bunch of times and 7 or 8 minutes later was driving again. This is so obviously a software issue. The SSN warning is not the problem... the problem is that the whole car shuts down when the warning is thrown. Seems like it would be a matter of adding 3 lines of code or something: if(SSN) { sleep(120); shutdowncar(); } to give the driver 2 minutes to actually Stop Safely Nowish. I really don't get why this is so hard for the engineers to fix...

 

[hcsharp]

We have approx 2400 mi and no SSN. I think you should get the car but not that one. It does seem odd that they haven't upgraded the firmware for this. If nothing else, given the urgency they should have firmware in every car that is logging everything when SSN happens including the state of all the software registers that might have anything to do with it.

 

[timf]

sjh7707,

That sounds more like the car did not start up properly. Did you make sure "Ready to Drive" was displayed? It's possible that either you weren't pressing down the brake when you went to start the car or it did not register it, so even though it may have appeared that the car was running it was really in Accessory mode.

 

[sjh7707]

That sounds more like the car did not start up properly. Did you make sure "Ready to Drive" was displayed? It's possible that either you weren't pressing down the brake when you went to start the car or it did not register it, so even though it may have appeared that the car was running it was really in Accessory mode.

This may well be the case. I was after all, test driving the car and I didn't have any instruction from the dealer on how to start it. Even though, I was then not able to convince my wife of anything different and she did not want to purchase the car. Especially after reading this blog and finding that the NHTSB is investigating the issue. While returning the car the salesmen at the dealership claimed total surprise. None of them had heard anything about the FFE stalling. As I told them about all the stuff online and the official NHTSB investigation that I read about they sat there and claimed ignorance. That really turned me off.

Of the choice between the Nissan Leaf the the Focus Electric, I still prefer the focus. I am now just a little more reserved about the technology and jumping in to quick.

 

[EVA]

No matter which battery electric you decide to buy, know that you are an early adopter. And with that comes some great things and it can also mean some difficult things.

Somebody just reminded me that we are all early adopters of these cars. We aren't the real pioneers that did this on their own with 12V lead acid batteries; we are still way out ahead of the vast majority of people. Stop Safely Now or Leaf battery capacity going to heck - things that can just happen when you're the first kid on the block with something.

 

[slooowr6]

Any update on the official investigation from NHTSA?

 

[hcsharp]

... This is so obviously a software issue. The SSN warning is not the problem... the problem is that the whole car shuts down when the warning is thrown. Seems like it would be a matter of adding 3 lines of code or something: if(SSN) { sleep(120); shutdowncar(); } to give the driver 2 minutes to actually Stop Safely Nowish. I really don't get why this is so hard for the engineers to fix...

It occurred to me that perhaps the reason they haven't pursued a solution like this is because the drive computer reaches a state where it can no longer process instructions. If you were writing the original code, it's likely that you wouldn't branch to SSN unless the system was too unstable to continue processing commands that would allow you to drive. I know that Tesla (and probably other makes) has a redundant drive computer for critical functions. If one of them crashes it switches to the other and then reboots the one that had a fault. You never know anything happened. Ford may be doing this too. One still has to wonder why it's taking so long for them to do something about this. At a bare minimum they could update the diagnostic code to get more information to help the engineers track it down. They may have good reasons for handling it as they are. We're not there and don't have all the information that they do.

 

[EVA]

Why it is taking so long? It might be that there isn't one reason it is happening. It might be multiple causes and they haven't figured out how to solve for them yet. The end result is the same, the car shuts down. But how it got there could be multiple reasons.

Remember we've seen two people say it was a loose connection. Another said it was a programming issue.

Hey, just looking on the bright side of things, hoping Ford finds a solution.

 

[goloch]

Hi folks. Been reading on your experiences over the past few days since experiencing my first SSN last Friday, 10/18. Just thought I'd add my experiences to the record...

I leased my car in May 13 and have about 3600 miles on it. It'd be absolutely great to me for 5 months until last week when I had my first SSN error.

The SSN was preceded by a radio malfunction; I'd turned the car off to drop my son at daycare (like I do everyday) and upon restarting the car, the radio would not respond. I had no ability to change the volume, turn off the unit, change the station, etc.

Figuring it was just a SYNC glitch, I did a power off/open door reset at the next traffic light - and the radio stayed on. I tried this a few more times at each subsequent light until the SSN warning triggered (fortunately around the corner from my destination).

After waiting FOUR HOURS for Ford's contracted towing company to arrive, my car was towed to the dealer where I leased the vehicle and it sat until Monday (with the radio still on) before being taken in for diagnosis. The dealer diagnosed a defective 12V battery, applied TSB 13-09-19 and updated the car to 13A01. I expressed my concern with their diagnosis methods since the car sat for three days with a 12V accessory running; of course the battery would be dead. They assured me this was the fix and sent me on my way - without having charged the vehicle, a crucial misstep.

I drove home with no problems. However, as soon as I plugged it in the car displayed the yellow wrench "high voltage system" error and would not charge. I didn't lose drive and could clear the message by a few resets, but nothing would allow it to charge. Not wanting to take any risks trying to drive it back to the dealer, roadside towed it back this morning and they're looking at it again.

I've already been in touch with my regional customer service rep on some dealer issues, so I'll be keeping her informed as I get more information from the dealer.